What Irked You Today?

[Ace-Garageguy]

6 hours ago, TarheelRick said:

...If I had not received the two sealed kits I would be livid.

List it on eBay as "rare, vintage, collectible plastic kit parts and sprue, $100 OBO"   

[TarheelRick]

That might work, especially if I use the first picture.  The decal sheet is complete, although a bit crispy.

[ChrisBcritter]

Finally starting to doze off at 2:30 AM and then realizing I haven't taken the trash cans out.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Local Wednesday relief mail carrier. The fact is that just about everything in a box that gets here on a Wednesday is either mis-delivered, or there's some bogus marking like yesterday's "delivery attempted, no access". 

Odd that packages are normally left on my porch, which is accessible 24-7.

The Wednesday relief mail carrier (the great regular guy's day off) either simply can't read, doesn't understand numbers, or won't get out of the truck.

Delivery problems occur on average 3 times a month. I've complained in person and filed complaints with the Postmaster's office, to no avail. The local supervisor always makes excuses about the competence of this one driver. So...ummm...how does this moron keep his job?

I'm on the way to the PO to see where it is. Most likely the regular carrier has it (though it hasn't be re-scanned out-for-delivery), and it will probably get here today.

But I really have enough to do in my own life without having to back up a USPS slacker two or three times a month too.

[Mark]

The relief guy has probably already had issues in multiple areas already.  They're spreading him around so he can't get into too much new trouble in any one area.

[imarriedawitch]

Bunch of hobos working at the USPS. Tracking a parcel from Allentown Pa. to London Ont. for three weeks now and it hasn't even left USA yet.

[peter31a]

17 hours ago, imarriedawitch said:

Bunch of hobos working at the USPS. Tracking a parcel from Allentown Pa. to London Ont. for three weeks now and it hasn't even left USA yet.

I can sympathize. I have a package from Mike's Decals that sat at Jamaica New York from February 24 until March 9. Apparently it's now finally made it to Canada where our postal service can hang on to it for another couple of weeks. Sheesh!

[imarriedawitch]

42 minutes ago, peter31a said:

I can sympathize. I have a package from Mike's Decals that sat at Jamaica New York from February 24 until March 9. Apparently it's now finally made it to Canada where our postal service can hang on to it for another couple of weeks. Sheesh!

Same dates as mine. Probably get charged duty and taxes for our trouble.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Smoke-and-mirrors regarding the inflation numbers... with the bull always "excluding food and energy".

Really? Food and energy is where most people really feel the hit.

[89AKurt]

It's been a week since I started calling the water filter company to get a tech to walk me through the controller, which is stuck in flush mode.  It was just before going on a trip, that I got a water bill over $100, I'm the only one here, no irrigation.  So I looked at the control panel, which shows - - - - - -, and could hear what sounds like a leak.  So now I'm shutting off at the meter until I need to flush the toilet, do the dishes, take a shower, and maybe do laundry (once a week).  My voicemail messages are getting more irate.  I suspect the company may have been sold to someone who can't run it, or they sold so many filter systems and now can't get people to work as techs so they are overwhelmed.  The new normal.

[espo]

Got the bill for our property taxes. Seems the value of our new home went up $100,000.00 in the last year. We downsized our residents two years ago because the county kept upping our tax bill so much every year. Maybe time to look at a different county or even state for that matter. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

The apparent lack of ability to read 3" tall numbers clearly displayed on both sides of my mailbox (and/or lie about it) has now spread from USPS to UPS as well.

Package tracking notification says "delivery attempted but business was closed".

1) This is not a business address, nor was it a business purchase

2) I've been home all morning, watching out the window as I do paperwork; no UPS truck

3) UPS standard procedure at this address is to throw packages on my front porch anyway

4) The online "help" chatbot is entirely useless

5) General incompetence is getting to be pretty much SOP everywhere now, just business as usual

EDIT: And yes, some things are "better" than in days of old, what with instant online access to just about any part or obscure racing hardware bit I might desire, and having it delivered in a few days. But this is, of course, tempered by the fact that I HAVE to rely on the internet for almost everything because almost nothing is available locally anymore. 

In days of yore, I used to be able to visit a machine shop, or a speed shop, and get most anything instantly...and if not, if I had the paper catalogs from whatever manufacturers I dealt with, a quick phone call would get whatever I needed on the way. So there's just not really any overall improvement in efficiency when I still have to rely on shipping.

It would be just nice if I didn't have to waste so much time following up on other people. One reason I dumped my actual shop and became a one-man-show again was to avoid the constant hassle of depending on others to get things done...but it seems I can't get away from the daily annoyance incompetence causes.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[TonyK]

1 hour ago, espo said:

Got the bill for our property taxes. Seems the value of our new home went up $100,000.00 in the last year.

I've heard people in the past get excited saying "Wow, our house is worth such and such" and I remind them you'll just be paying more taxes. Don't get all excited about it unless you're ready to sell.

[espo]

2 hours ago, TonyK said:

I've heard people in the past get excited saying "Wow, our house is worth such and such" and I remind them you'll just be paying more taxes. Don't get all excited about it unless you're ready to sell.

I understand all that. The property is only really worth what someone is willing to pay for it. The part that has my BVD's in a bunch is they keep raising their assessment so that they can raise our property taxes. 

[crazyjim]

Went for a chemical stress test today.  Got all hooked up and the tech my heart rate (30) was too low to do the test. He called the doctor on duty and she agreed.  Called my cardiologist and he agreed but said we could reschedule and do the test in the hospital where they can use different chemicals.  I told the tech I'd like to try the threadmill and he agreed to that and I MADE IT!!.  Results next week.

[Rodent]

49 minutes ago, espo said:

I understand all that. The property is only really worth what someone is willing to pay for it. The part that has my BVD's in a bunch is they keep raising their assessment so that they can raise our property taxes. 

Prop 13 in California (I am sure David remembers that) keeps them from being able to raise property taxes willy-nilly. They can only raise it so much per year which is a huge benefit for long-time owners in this crazy real estate market.. The house we bought just about 30 years ago for $150k is still only appraised at $246k for tax purposes, even though its market value is closer to $550-575k.

David, I don't know how it works in Kansas, but you may be able to get your house independently appraised and challenge your tax bill. Or that may just prove that your house is indeed worth $100k more this year.

[cobraman]

Much more than an irk really .  My brother in law passed away today . He had been in bad shape the last few months . He was also my best friend . We did so many things together . He was a great guy . I take comfort that I believe he is with his wife , my sister who past away about 5 years ago . RIP Marine 

[Ace-Garageguy]

15 minutes ago, cobraman said:

...My brother in law passed away today...

My sincere condolences, Ray.

[Snake45]

Sorry to hear of your loss, Ray. 

[TonyK]

16 hours ago, espo said:

I understand all that. The property is only really worth what someone is willing to pay for it. The part that has my BVD's in a bunch is they keep raising their assessment so that they can raise our property taxes. 

I wasn't pointing my statement at you. Sorry if you thought that. It was more of a general statement of what I have observed people saying in the past.

[crazyjim]

My condolences Ray.

[Joe Nunes]

Sending my condolences, Ray. 

Joe

[Ace-Garageguy]

Wasting yet another morning waiting for UPS to get their head out and get my package here...marked on the tracking site yesterday as "delivery attempted, business closed" which is utter and complete bull.

The tracking site USED to have a real-time GPS truck locator map, so you could tell if the damm thing was in the neighborhood.

I guess that was just too good an idea to last.

Now they have a "smart" chatbot that is as useless and incompetent as a typical live human.

Pretty impressive, techie dwerps.

Big Brown, indeed.  

Edited March 16, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[peteski]

18 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Wasting yet another morning waiting for UPS to get their head out and get my package here...marked on the tracking site yesterday as "delivery attempted, business closed" which is utter and complete bull.

What can brown do for you?  Remember that ad campaign few years back?   Incompetence!

[espo]

19 hours ago, Rodent said:

Prop 13 in California (I am sure David remembers that) keeps them from being able to raise property taxes willy-nilly. They can only raise it so much per year which is a huge benefit for long-time owners in this crazy real estate market.. The house we bought just about 30 years ago for $150k is still only appraised at $246k for tax purposes, even though its market value is closer to $550-575k.

David, I don't know how it works in Kansas, but you may be able to get your house independently appraised and challenge your tax bill. Or that may just prove that your house is indeed worth $100k more this year.

I do remember Prop. 13 and the benefits to long time homeowners as well as retires which was one of the original proposals behind it. We were in the Sacramento area going up Hwy 80 toward the north shore of Lake Tahoe. At the time, around 1990, a wide spot in the road called Rocklin was starting to get developed. When we left in 1996 the housing market was in the "pull chain" department. We carried our equity from our home in Citrus Heights plus some cash not to mention many upgrades we did to the new house during the time we owned it. We were unable to sell it for more than the balance of the mortgage and we had more than 30% down plus upgrades after we moved in. 

 

4 hours ago, TonyK said:

I wasn't pointing my statement at you. Sorry if you thought that. It was more of a general statement of what I have observed people saying in the past.

The problem we are faced with the County mainly the City is that they have a long history of jacking up values and even have a mystery flouting figure they can add on at their discretion when they figure out what they are going to charge for taxes. We had this problem with the home we built here around 2000 and the duplex we had where my wife's mother lived for a time. The duplex we owned for 10 years and they were taxing use as if it was worth far more than its real value. They kept saying they had the greatest value increases in that city, and yet we were only able to sell it at about a $20k less than when we bought it and again not to mention the landscaping and condition of the property.